Bamboo to Bio-Fuel: Finland's Fortum to invest Euro 13.5 million in 2nd generation Bio-Refinery at Numaligarh, Assam.

PradhanMantri Modi has laid the foundation stone for Assam Bio-Refinery project. Fortum brings in biggest FDI to the North East, in a single greenfield project.

Fortum 3 BV, 100% subsidiary of Fortum Oyj, Finland with Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), an Indian state-owned oil refinery company, and Chempolis, a Finnish technology company, had signed a joint venture for building and operating a bio-refinery in Assam, India. PM Modi along with key officials from Numaligarh Refinery Ltd, Fortum and Chempolis performed the Bhoomipoojan ceremony for the upcoming bio-refinery. The construction of the refinery is expected to be completed by June 2021. 

As part of this venture, Fortum and Chempolis will invest in 50% equity stake, while Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) holds a majority 50%. The first-of-its-kind bio-refinery will be based on formico-technology developed by Chempolis. The key raw material of the bio-refinery is bamboo. The main product bio-ethanol will be sold to NRL who will blend it to petrol. In addition, bio-refinery produces other biochemical and biocoal. Biocoal will be used in CHP plant to produce heat and power to the bio-refinery. Excess power will be sold to NRL's oil refinery where it will replace fossil electricity production. Fortum commits to invest Euro 13.5 Million in a Project of Euro 160 Million.

Bio fuel generated from biomass will save approximately 60 Million US Dollars annually.

The usage of bio fuels aims to solve many critical issues like saving foreign exchange, waste management and providing domestic & clean energy sources. We are living in a world with diminishing natural resources, and we aspire to be one of the forerunners in resource efficiency. For the world's future, biomass is a valuable raw material that can be used to produce many more products of value than today. India has decided to set-up 12 bio-refineries across India which will produce ethanol from bamboo, sugarcane and rice bran. The move towards sustainable development will also help farmers to increase their income. Years to come, the farmer of this country will become an oil producer.

Fortum's Bio2X programme investigates new business opportunities with fractioning-based technologies and end-products of the process. Fortum is currently testing several different fractioning methods. The company has also co-operation projects with different companies to test the end products of different methods.

- Chaitanya Kulkarni.

88% of rural households in India has a savings bank accounts says NABARD.

NABARD All India Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS), conducted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), revealed that farm households register higher income than the families solely dependent on non-farm livelihood activities in rural areas. The report was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman in New Delhi.

The NABARD survey, with the reference year of 2015-16, which covered 40,327 rural households, highlighted that the average annual income of an agricultural household is Rs 1,07,172 compared to Rs 87,228 for families engaged only in non-agricultural activities. The survey defined farm households as families having over Rs 5,000 as the value of produce from agricultural operations in the year preceding the survey. For all rural households, the average annual income stood at Rs 96,708. The 48 percent of the rural families are agricultural households. Apart from assessing the income levels of rural households, the survey mapped aspects like debt, saving, investment, insurance, pension and financial aptitude and behaviour of individuals.

While 88.1 per cent rural households and 55 percent agricultural households reported having a bank account, average savings per annum per household was Rs 17,488. About 26 percent of agricultural households and 25 percent of non-agricultural households were found to have been covered under insurance. Similarly, 20.1 percent agricultural households as against 18.9 percent non-agricultural households have subscribed to pension schemes. The Incidence of Indebtedness (IOI) index, which is a proportion of households having outstanding debt on the date of the survey, was 52.5 percent and 42.8 percent for agricultural and non-agricultural households respectively. All India IOI taking rural households together stood at 47.4 per cent.

Highlights of the Nabard All India Financial Inclusion Survey

Income

• Agricultural households, which accounted for 48% of rural households, earned Rs 107,172 during 2015-16 from cultivation, livestock, non-farm sector activities and wages/salaries. Thus, farmers’ income grew at a compounded growth rate of 12% per annum compared to Rs 77,112 per annum as per NSSO assessment in 2012-13. The income levels for 19 out of 29 states are above all India average and 15 states recorded annual compound growth of above 10.5% between 2012-13 and 2015-16.
• Agricultural households earned 34% of their income from cultivation. Wage earnings contributed the same proportion to the income followed by salaries (16%), livestock (8%) and non-farm sector (6%). Other sources accounted for the rest.
• Non-agricultural households reported average annual income of Rs 87,228 majorly contributed by wages (54%), followed by salaries (32%) and non-farm sector activities (12%). Agricultural households earned 23% more than non-agricultural households.

Savings and Investment

• 88.1 per cent of the households reported having a bank account.
• 33% of households reported more than one savings account
• 26% of HH have women with institutional (including SHG) savings account
• 55 per cent of agricultural households reported any savings during the last year and of these 53 per cent saved with institutions like banks, post offices and SHGs.
• Average savings per annum per saver households was reportedly Rs 17,488, of which 95 per cent is with institutional agencies
• 10.4 per cent of agricultural households also reported investment with the average investment per investing agricultural households was reportedly Rs 62,734.
• For all investments amounting more than Rs 10,000 in the year, 60% of the amount was funded through borrowings from either institutional or informal sources.

Debt

• Incidence of Indebtedness (IOI), measured as proportion of households reporting outstanding debt on the date of the survey, is 52.5% for agricultural households and 42.8% non-agricultural households were reportedly indebted at the time of survey.  All India IOI taking all rural households together stands at 47.4%.
• Average amount of outstanding debt (AOD) for indebted agricultural households is reportedly Rs 1,04,602 as on the date of the survey. Debt outstanding for indebted non-agricultural households is reportedly Rs 76,731. Overall extent of indebtedness taking all households combined is Rs 91,407.
• 43.5% agricultural households reported to have borrowed any money during last year from some source or the other. 60.4% of them reportedly borrowed from institutional sources exclusively. Further, 30.3% borrowed from only informal sources and 9.2% of agricultural households borrowed from both sources. 56.7% of Non-Agricultural households and 58.6% of all households borrowed from institutional sources during last year.
• During the year 2015-16, borrowing Agricultural households reportedly availed a loan of Rs 107,083 from various agencies, 72% of which was availed from institutional sources including MFIs and SHGs. 69% of borrowings of all households and 65% of non-agricultural households were from institutional sources.

Insurance and Pension

• About 26% of agricultural households and 25% of non-agricultural households reported having been covered under one or the other type of insurance.
• Among agricultural households who reported to have taken any loan for agricultural purposes in the last one year [2015-16] from institutional agencies, 6.9% reported being covered under crop insurance.
• The coverage under any type of pension was reported to be about 18.9 % for non-agricultural households as against 20.1 % for agricultural households.
• When assessed for the type of pension received, 32% of all households with senior citizens reported being covered by old age pension.

Read the full report here- https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/1608180417NABARD-Repo-16_Web_P.pdf

Numaligarh Refinery sets up bio-ethanol plant with Finnish, Dutch firms

State-run PSU Numaligarh Refinery Limited has taken a giant step forward by establishing a joint venture, Assam Bio-Refinery Pvt. Limited (ABRPL) with equity participation of M/s Chempolis Oy of Finland and M/s Fortum 3 B.V. of Netherland to build and operate the first of its kind Bio-Refinery in India which would generate renewable green fuel-bioethanol, other valuable chemicals and green power from bamboo biomass.

The joint venture company incorporated on 04th June 2018 has 3 partners with major equity holding of 50% by NRL, 28% by Fortum 3.B.V. Netherland and 22% by Chempolis Oy, Finland.

“NRL’s new venture shall produce 62 million litres of bio-ethanol by using around 0.5 million MT bamboo per annum which is going to be a game changer in terms of additional revenue generation for the bamboo farmers through sustainable cultivation, extraction and transportation of bamboo. It is indeed a historic moment for India’s North East to garner first major foreign direct investment for setting up its first bamboo based Biorefinery” said Mr S.K. Barua, Managing Director, NRL

Bioethanol shall be produced from bamboo as feedstock by using pioneering 3G Formicobio technology by a Finnish technology provider M/s Chempolis Oy with other valuable chemicals and bio-coal. Bio-coal will be used for the production of steam and green power to the bio-refinery.

According to a statement from NRL, the company is implementing India’s first bio-refinery in Assam at an estimated cost of Rs 950 crore which would produce bio-ethanol with co-production of furfural and acetic acid from the locally available non-food biomass feedstock. Bamboo is one of the major non-food biomass resources available abundantly in North East India and is among the fastest growing plants. 49,000 tonnes of BioEthanol produced annually would primarily be used to blend NRL petrol as mandated by the National Policy on Biofuel, with the surplus to be sold to other oil marketing companies. The company added that NRL has already inked MoUs with Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA) and Arunachal Pradesh Bamboo Resources Development Agency (APBRDA) last year for sourcing of bamboo for the Bio-Refinery.

The government of India recently stepped up its support for the production of bio-ethanol, most prominently by means of the new bio-ethanol policy for mandatory blending of Ethanol with gasoline up to 10%. The new bio-ethanol policy aims to spur investments for setting up projects with a total production capacity of 1 billion litres of fuel ethanol every year. The policy is also aimed at cutting down the country’s significant energy import dependence as well as meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) committed to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

This project has a clear role in the fight against climate change. It can also have a big positive impact on local communities. It will provide employment opportunities for thousands of people and in the long run, it will help local communities from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to become self-sustainable and enhance their living standards.

– Chaitanya Kulkarni

Also published on CSRBulletin.com

CSR Data Portal on MCA will enhance accountability and transperancy

Information regarding Corporate Social Responsibility for private limited entities and corporates can now be tracked on Ministry of Corporate Affairs' website MCA21 registry portal. Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs launched the National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal today in the presence of P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Law & Justice. The FM said that the initiative is a significant step towards driving accountability and transparency for corporate India. By making the portals accessible to general public, it will ensure a high level of compliance and also in institutionalising and consolidating the CSR activities.

The government further mentions that National CSR Data Portal would capture information on CSR activities filed on the MCA21 registry in their financial statements. The filed information would provide a snapshot of CSR activities carried out by companies. The CSR portal would contain all the filed information, which can generate pre-defined reports with respect to expenditure across states, districts, development sectors, etc. 

The CSR Data portal would also provide feedback on projects to be given by registered users and generate predefined reports and customised reports. The move reflects government's commitment in leveraging technology for smart governance. Corporate Data Portal would help in becoming a potent enabler for greater transparency and creation of tools for stronger Corporate Governance.

Both the portals launched by the government aims to bring 100% transparencies in corporate governance. The open data of 4 million filings from 1.2 million companies will be accessible to general public, corporates and philanthropists, besides bringing together CSR contributors, implementers and beneficiaries and aligning CSR activities with national development goals.

The National CSR Data Portal will capture information on CSR activities carried out by eligible companies, filed on the MCA21 registry in their financial statements. The filed information provides a snap shot of CSR activities carried out by companies. The CSR portal contains all filed information, which can generate pre-defined reports with respect to expenditure across states, districts, development sectors, etc. The Portal also provides for feedback on projects to be given by registered users. The open access to data is expected to help researchers, improve quality of data filed by companies, as well as involve intended beneficiaries in giving valuable feedback to companies.

While the Corporate Data Portal aims at making all the financial and non-financial information of the companies available in a user friendly format to the general public. It also has facility to generate pre-defined reports and also customised reports.

- Chaitanya Kulkarni

Source - Public Information Bureau.

#ICICILombardCaringHands: Healthy eyes for a brighter future.

Corporate Social Responsibility is high on agenda for every organisation in today’s age. Especially in a country like India where ‘Giving back to society’ is core part of our social values. The research report by Tower Perrins Global Workforce states that the CSR as one of the most important driver for employee engagement. It helps in fostering the culture of team building and leads to self-motivation. The research concludes - Employees need to be informed and involved with the CSR agenda and the values attached with it, finding self-fulfilment in the process of having contributed to the community, beyond the routine work, developing one's personality, leadership, talents and social skills in the process. Caring Hands, by ICICI Lombard is one such initiative which believes in employee volunteering for effective last-mile impact.

Caring hands is an employee volunteering program, wherein employees take up the responsibility of organizing the activity end to end. The noble initiative was a part of ICICI Lombard’s Corporate Social Responsibility. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has a tradition to go beyond the scope of business and help the society through specific initiatives in the field of preventive health care, road safety campaigns and disaster support. The Caring Hands initiative focuses on underprivileged children from the age group of 9 to 13. Started in 2011, the initiative has reached more than 1,40,000 children of over 300 municipal schools with more than 20,000 students benefitting from corrective spectacles.

 

With a Pan-India network of its employees, the Caring Hands initiative achieved last-mile connectivity across rural and urban areas. Although the activity demands high-end equipment and ophthalmologists, the employees successfully conduct eye check-up camps every year on 11 December, which is now earmarked as ‘Caring Hands Day’ at ICICI Lombard. Despite these challenges, ICICI Lombard employees have been successfully conducting eye check-up camps year on year.

Eyes and eye-sight are the gifts of God. Just try to close your eyes in a busy area and within minutes we feel lost in darkness and surrounding noises. But it is a sad fact, that most of us ignore the health of the organ from which we see this world. Like any other part of your body, our eyes too require conscious efforts to protect them, which also help in improving your vision.

In India, nearly 41% of our population suffers eye-related defects and diseases. India has one of the largest population of unnecessarily blind and vision impaired individual population in the world. Worryingly, the data from India Vision Institute suggests that eye defects in kids below 14 years old are on the rise. Some major reasons for a defect in eye and eyesight are: lack of vitamins, poorer economic background, dust, pollution, excessive stress and ‘Chalta Hain attitude’ or sheer ignorance. It is often observed that kids with undiagnosed eyesight disorder lack in studies, physical fitness or games, which hampers the overall development of a child.

Since the last six years, the employees of ICICI Lombard have received a positive feedback from the students and teachers. The students which received spectacles through this initiative felt confident and could perform better at studies with a clear vision.

The task undertaken by ICICI Lombard is really appreciating. Right from approaching school authorities for permissions to coordinating teams of volunteers and trained ophthalmologists. ICICI Lombard Caring Hands initiative is a result of planning, hard-work and executions by thousands of ICICI Lombard employees. For this initiative, ICICI Lombard General Insurance has been conferred the prestigious ‘Golden Peacock Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ in 2015. In coming years, the employees of ICICI Lombard are committed to this unique program which is poised to make a difference to India’s next generation.

- Chaitanya Kulkarni